Posted on 07/09/2006 10:13:35 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
...In seven states in India, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and its allies have introduced over the past few years a number of laws that punish “proselytism.”
Ivan Dias, the archbishop of Bombay...asserted that “conversion from one religious belief to another is a strictly personal matter between God and the individual concerned.”
Conversions “induced by force, fraud or allurement,” the cardinal continued, are not part of the Church’s mission. Those who attack the Church must provide proof for their accusations, but they have not been able to do so...
“Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of these 1.8% belong to the Catholic Church. Despite being such a tiny minority, the Christians cater to 20% of all the primary education in the country, 10% of the literacy and community health care programmes, 25% of the care of the orphans and widows, and 30% of the care of the handicapped, lepers and AIDS patients."
...But the anti-Christian act that provoked the greatest outrage was, on June 25, the aggression against four sisters of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in Andra Pradesh, a state in which there is no anti-conversion law in force.
The four sisters of the Missionaries of Charity – Maria Julia, Chriselda, Emma Felesia, and Reena Francis – had come to the hospital to assist the sick, as they have done every Sunday for years, with the permission of the authorities. Surrounded by a crowd of 300 persons, including news broadcasters, and accused of converting the dying through coercion, they were held hostage until the arrival of the police, who placed the sisters under arrest.
The aggression against the Missionaries of Charity has no precedent in India. Their founder, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, is respected in India as a national institution...
(Excerpt) Read more at chiesa.com ...
www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6627
The Missionaries of Charity started their apostolate in Tirupathi in 1986. Tirupathi is a famous Hindu shrine in Chittoor District, Cuddapah Diocese. The sisters run Nirmala Sadan, a home for orphans and destitute people. The management of the Ruia Hospital invited them to visit patients and to take care of the dying, orphans and old people.
Patients with AIDS or infected by HIV admitted in the hospital have been entrusted to the care of the sisters. There are many signed agreements between the hospital authorities and the sisters regarding mutual support in taking care of the patients. Very often, the hospital authorities ask the sisters to take into their home babies born with special needs and destitute old patients who are abandoned at the hospital.
Ping
Those are some very impressive figures for percentages of charity work done by such a small religious following.
DISCUSSION ABOUT:
Mother Teresa’s Sisters Are Hostage to Fanatic Hinduists
These nuns have sacrificed everything for the needy, it is deplorable that they are being treated like this.
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To be included in or removed from the MORAL ABSOLUTES PINGLIST, please FReepMail wagglebee.
History has shown time after time,if you cause God's servants grief--then expect to receive a LOT of grief for yourself.
Courtesy ping!
You may want to respond to this.
Christianity bears its fruit in India ping.
The TTD had asked the State government to enact a law to prohibit propagation of any religion on June 24.
Who are the hostages and the harassed?
Sounds pretty bogus.
One doesn't need personal information to pray for souls. Not even the name...the intent is there.
I don't believe for a minute the Sisters were prying for personal information.
May the Lord bless them and give them strength in this time of testing.
Ping
I'm sorry, I don't understand you. You describe the patients the sisters were caring and praying for as their "vicims." In what way were they victims? The sisters did no harm, but did only good for the dear people, physically and spiritually.
I wonder if the "Mother Teresa was a power-blinded money-launderer" FReepers will show up to this thread ....
Does the phrase "wolves in sheep's clothing" ring a bell?
You should hear the crap Sisters of Charity spread here in India. The Mother herself only used to fly first class and on private lear jets...some vow of poverty.
Please do not use potty language or references to potty language on the Religion Forum.
No good deed remains unpunished.
Charity begins at home.
Of course I know what the phrase means. But what are the specifics? In what way have they offended?
The only specific charge I've heard, is that they asked for some patients' names, so they could pray for them in church. Is this a crime?
From what I understand from this news story and others like it published in asianews and elsewhere, the four sisters were mobbed, forcibly held and prevented from leaving the hospital, arrested, and then released without charges.
If they are innocent, why are their being harrassed like this?
And if they are guilty, why are they not put on trial so that their offensive behavior can be exposed and made known to all?
India has always been a hell hole. The cast system is an unholy social management system that can only be healed through Christian love and principles. The only hope for India is the influence of the sisters. If they "pray" on the dying then more power to them.
So are you personally acquainted with their work or are you just "well read"? Media propaganda is universal.
OK, what c^%$ do the Sisters of Charity spread in India?
As for Mother T, in the convents and homes of her Missionaries of Charity she lived poorly and austerely. She was given --- donated --- airfare by people whow wanted her to travel to different countries and speak about the work of her order. Is this a sin? By the time she was using air transportation, she was already old and frail. Would you have expected her to go from Calcutta to London by ox cart?
OK, Charity begins at home, but it doesn't end there. I am not sure what you're getting at. Could you explain?
Mother Teresa, born in Skopje, Albania (now Macedonia), made her home in India from 1930 until her death in 1997 after a lifetime of continuous service to God and to the poor. When she was awarded India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, she was certainly honored as one of India's own.
For a deeply appreciative memorial of Mother Teresa by Rukmini Chawla, a devout Hindu, read:
www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/ mag/2002/12/29/stories/2002122900640300.htm
“Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of these 1.8% belong to the Catholic Church. Despite being such a tiny minority, the Christians cater to 20% of all the primary education in the country, 10% of the literacy and community health care programmes, 25% of the care of the orphans and widows, and 30% of the care of the handicapped, lepers and AIDS patients."You will know them by what they do.
The four sisters of the Missionaries of Charity – Maria Julia, Chriselda, Emma Felesia, and Reena Francis – had come to the hospital to assist the sick, as they have done every Sunday for years, with the permission of the authorities. Surrounded by a crowd of 300 persons, including news broadcasters, and accused of converting the dying through coercion, they were held hostage until the arrival of the police, who placed the sisters under arrest.Satan seems to be alive and well.
And you must know all about the "cast system" in India. Make way people, here comes another Indologist. FYI, even Christians have castes in India. So much for what Jesus can do for them. Its a cultural thing, not anything to do with Hinduism.
And if India is a hell-hole, Catholic S. America must be your idea of Paradise. Jesus my friend, was crucified 2000 years ago. He was a mortal like you and I, no God. And half his goodness are myths created by the creed of Constantine to ensure he held power in Rome. Don't lecture us about good old Christian love. We have enough and more saints of our own who preached the same things before and after Christ.
Medieval Dark Age - Europe was very Christian wasn't it?
LOL!
Dear Mrs. Don-o,
"The only specific charge I've heard, is that they asked for some patients' names, so they could pray for them in church. Is this a crime?"
Apparently, it is.
I'd type in "LOL" if it weren't so pathetic.
sitetest
They weren't mobbed at all, nor forcibly held.
If they are innocent, why are their being harassed like this?
They are not being harassed, but harassing. They are in a Holy City and on Holy ground in Tirumala. They were asked to respect Vishnu and his devotees three times before the dharna was held at the hospital.
Your sisters are guilty, in the least, of being stupid, arrogant, and disrespectful. Members of another Hindu sect would not do what these women did nor would they be allowed to do it, either.
Who woulda thunk, Dan Brown is a FReeper!
And suttee is kindness and love?
What does the middle ages have to do with nuns ministering to the sick and needy? Nothing. You wield it as club against those you disagree with. You COULD try debating with the current facts.
We believe our work should be our example to people.
I wonder what Mother Teresa would think now, should she see the "workers" in India and what they do.
What? touch the un-touchables?
You keep harping on this but give no examples. If you want to be taken seriously, list their "crimes".
I have to laugh. The late Pope hated so much that evangelicals were stealing Catholics away from the flock that he called them "rapacious wolves", devouring Catholics and causing division and discord in the communities. (sound familiar?)
They can't even get along with each other. Some paradise.
It's sad. You accuse others of hate while blinded by your own.
And as for the dark time in Europe after the barbarian sack of Rome: the Church was the bright path through the Dark Ages: the citadel of literacy, the founder of universities, the builder of cathedrals, the hope of the poor, the sanctuary of learning, the cultivator of compassion, the patron of the arts and sciences, the shelter of widows and orphans, the mother of saints, and--- to use one phrase from Karl Marx ---"the heart of a heartless world."
Fancy yourself an "Indologist" if you wish, but you don't know much about Christian civilization.
Btw, name a Hindu who was arrested in the christian US for "proselytism".
So you wish to dispute the news stories? Fair enough.
Can you give us a link? Documentation?
If you're interested in interfaith relations--- actually interested, and not just consoling yourself with stereotypes --- you might want to read the critical yet appreciative article that appeared in Christianity Today (a Protestant publication) about Pope John Paul II and his relationships with Evangelicals.
www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/005/13.34.html
Not surprisingly, there has been cooperation when the various church's goals coincided, and stresses when they diverged.
Similarly, there have been beautiful examples of cooperation between devout Hindus and devout Catholics in India; and at other times there has been mutual incomprehension and tension.
Wouldn't you say that having religious women arrested for caring and praying for the dying, is an example of that incomprehension? Later, they were released without charges. Doesn't that suggest that the accusation of "criminal prayer" was at best dubious?
If you think something is hateful about it don't accuse me. (I think it's rather humorous.)
Let's take extra care with language in the Religion forum.
I never stated that he didn't say it. And your posts speak for themselves, full of accusations but not backed by facts (links).
This is similiar to how S. Korea became Christian. In the Korean war They were given enormous humanitarian aid by the free donations of millions of Christians after the Korean war, while the people's suffering was largely ignored by the Buddhist majority. Christianity grew in strength while Buddhism started to decline.
Correction, Buddhism is still the majority in South Korea, the the stats are still telling.
My friend, Jesus was crucified and died for your sins and mine. He IS God whether you accept it or not. Yes, He did appear in the flesh, but He was no mere mortal.
Speaking of gods of myth, have you ever seen a half elephant, half man with four arms and hands walking around? Like Lord Ganesha of the Hindus? Who also rides a mouse?
Talk about myths! Do you really believe this?
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